Management factors affecting the use of pasture by table chickens in extensive production systems

Whether chickens will make proper use of pasture is a problem experienced by producers of free-range and organic chickens. The aims of this project are to identify husbandry techniques and aspects of system design that encourage good pasture use. Two studies have been conducted comprising a winter and a summer flock. The aim of the winter flock was to examine the effect of outdoor artificial shelter on pasture usage. This was done for female Ross 308 birds grown to day 56, and ISA 657 birds grown to day 81. In summer, ISA 657 birds were grown to day 81. Treatments were either standard or enriched brooding, with pasture only or enriched pasture. Standard brooding was in a controlled environment house until day 42. Enriched brooding was in naturally ventilated houses in which birds had sight of pasture from an early age and access from day 21. Enriched pasture included artificial shelter, with straw bales and a conifer “wigwam” used to provide natural shelter. Chickens may be encouraged to go outdoors by brooding in a less “controlled” environment than that used for intensive broilers, and by allowing access to pasture when young. However, mortality was higher. Conifer wigwams may offer a means for more even use of pasture and better distribution of droppings

USING CROWDFUNDING AS PART OF THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

AbstractCrowdfunding is the process of taking a project in need of investment and asking a large group of people to supply the investment. It allows organisations to sell their product before production, reducing the risk of new product development. Organisations such as Tesla and General Electric have used crowdfunding successfully but crowdfunding is yet to be explored as part of a formalised product development framework. This paper includes the business case for commercialising new products with crowdfunding and presents crowdfunding as part of a product development and commercialisation framework.</jats:p

Flare magnetic reconnection and relativistic particles in the 2003 October 28 event

An X17.2 solar flare occurred on 2003 October 28, accompanied by multi-wavelength emissions and a high flux of relativistic particles observed at 1AU. We present the analytic results of the TRACE, SOHO, RHESSI, ACE, GOES, hard X-ray (INTEGRAL satellite), radio (Onderejov radio telescope), and neutron monitor data. It is found that the inferred magnetic reconnection electric field correlates well with the hard X-ray, gamma-ray, and neutron emission at the Sun. Thus the flare's magnetic reconnection probably makes a crucial contribution to the prompt relativistic particles, which could be detected at 1 AU. Since the neutrons were emitted a few minutes before the injection of protons and electrons, we propose a magnetic-field evolution configuration to explain this delay. We do not exclude the effect of CME-driven shock, which probably plays an important role in the delayed gradual phase of solar energetic particles.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, accepted by A&

Linear-Matrix-Inequality-Based Solution to Wahba’s Problem

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140644/1/1.g000132.pd

Preliminary archaeoentomological analyses of permafrost-preserved cultural layers from the pre-contact Yup’ik Eskimo site of Nunalleq, Alaska : implications, potential and methodological considerations

Acknowledgements Site excavation and samples collection were conducted by archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen, with the help of archaeologists and student excavators from the University of Aberdeen University of Alaska Fairbanks and Bryn Mawr College, Kuskokwim Campus, College of Rural Alaska and residents of Quinhagak and Mekoryuk. This study is funded through AHRC grant to the project ‘Understanding Cultural Resilience and Climate Change on the Bering Sea through Yup’ik Ecological Knowledge, Lifeways, Learning and Archaeology’ to Rick Knecht, Kate Britton and Charlotta Hillderal (University of Aberdeen; AH/K006029/1). Thanks are due to Qanirtuuq Inc. and Quinhagak, Alaska for sampling permissions and to entomologists working at the CNC in Ottawa for allowing access to reference collections of beetles, lice and fleas. Yves Bousquet, Ales Smetana and Anthony E. Davies are specially acknowledged for their help with the identification of coleopteran specimens. Finally, we would also like to thank Scott Elias for useful comments on the original manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mini-batch learning of exponential family finite mixture models

Mini-batch algorithms have become increasingly popular due to the requirement for solving optimization problems, based on large-scale data sets. Using an existing online expectation-{}-maximization (EM) algorithm framework, we demonstrate how mini-batch (MB) algorithms may be constructed, and propose a scheme for the stochastic stabilization of the constructed mini-batch algorithms. Theoretical results regarding the convergence of the mini-batch EM algorithms are presented. We then demonstrate how the mini-batch framework may be applied to conduct maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of mixtures of exponential family distributions, with emphasis on ML estimation for mixtures of normal distributions. Via a simulation study, we demonstrate that the mini-batch algorithm for mixtures of normal distributions can outperform the standard EM algorithm. Further evidence of the performance of the mini-batch framework is provided via an application to the famous MNIST data set

Graptolites from the Benton area of west-central New Brunswick and their regional significance

Graptolites In black slate underlying volcanics along Eel River near Benton, 20 km south of Woodstock, New Brunswick belong to the Clonograptus tenellus Zone of the upper Tremadoc Series. They are essentially the same age as graptolites from the Cookson Formation of southern New Brunswick. The Belle Lake Slate overlies the same volcanics, and on Belle Brook, 12 km southwest of Benton, contains graptolites referred to the Nemagraptus gracilis Zone of the Caradoc Series. The Belle Lake Slate correlates with an unnamed sequence of greywacke and slate in the Hayesville area of central New Brunswick. The Ordovician volcanics and overlying sedimentary rocks are the sane general age as a limestone facies found to the east and northeast of Woodstock. The limestones were deposited in shallow-water at varying distances from volcanically active areas. The presence of lithologlcally similar Lower Ordovician and older rocks in the Benton area of west-central New Brunswick and in the Cookson Formation of southern New Brunswick allows both areas to be included in the same suspect terrane. R&#xC9;SUM&#xC9; A 20 km au sud de Woodstock (Nouveau-Brunswick) on trouve, dans une ardoise noire recouverte de roches volcaniques, des graptolites qui appartiennent &#xE0; la zone Clonograptus tenellus de la s&#xE9;rie du Tr&#xE9;madocien sup&#xE9;rieur. Ces graptolites datent essentiellement de la m&#xEA;me p&#xE9;riode que les graptolites de la formation de Cookson du sud du Nouveau-Brunswick. &#xC0; 12 km au sud-ouest de Benton, le long du ruisseau Belle, les roches volcanlques mentionn&#xE9;es ci-haut sont recouvertes par l 1 ardoise Belle Lake qui contient des graptolites de la zone &#xE0; Nemagraptus gracilis de la serle du Caradocien. L‘ardoise Belle Lake est correl&#xE9;e avec une s&#xE9;quence de grauwacke et d'ardoise que l'on retrouve dans la r&#xE9;gion de Hayesville au centre du Nouveau-Brunswick. Les roches volcaniques ordoviciennes et les roches s&#xE9;dimentaires qui les recouvrent ont environ le m&#xEA;me &#xE2;ge qu'un faci&#xE8;s de calcaire situe &#xE0; l'est et au nord-est de Woodstock. Les calcaires ont &#xE9;t&#xE9; d&#xE9;pos&#xE9;s en eau peu profonde &#xE0; des distances variables d'une r&#xE9;gion volcaniquement active. La pr&#xE9;sence de roches lithologiquement semblables, certaines datant de l'Ordovicien inf&#xE9;rieur, d'autres plus anciennes, dans la r&#xE9;gion de Benton au centre-ouest du Nouveau-Brunswick et dans la formation de Cookson au sud du Nouveau-Brunswick presuppose une pa rent&#xE9; entre les deux r&#xE9;gions. [Tradult par le Journal